


The Path of Broken Things

by sheryl_sems



Category: The 100 (TV), The 100 Series - Kass Morgan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Police, Angst, Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin Reunion, Bellarke, Crime, Emotional, Endgame Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Hurt/Comfort, Modern Setting Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin, Murder, Murder Mystery, Mystery, Reunions, Slow Burn Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin, Unresolved Emotional Tension, but really its a strangers to partners to friends to lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 15:02:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28690608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sheryl_sems/pseuds/sheryl_sems
Summary: When one of their own is found standing over the Police Commissioner’s dead body at the scene of the crime, Arkadia Chief of Police Marcus Kane is forced to remove his team of most trusted officers from the case. Bellamy Blake included, who finds himself desperate enough to do whatever it takes to keep the accused out of prison, even if it means breaking the very law he is sworn to protect. The last person he expects to help him is his former police partner, someone they haven’t seen or heard from in six years. Clarke Griffin returns home, but nothing is as she left it.Sequel to “The Trail of Shadows Past” but can definitely be read as a standalone.
Relationships: Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin
Comments: 1
Kudos: 17





	The Path of Broken Things

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! Welcome to my new Bellarke crime fic! So a note before you start:
> 
> This is a sequel to another crime fic I wrote called "The Trail of Shadows Past", which dealt with another murder in Ark, and Bellamy and Clarke's enemies to partners to friends to almost lovers dynamic. If you don't want spoilers for the end of that book- I would recommend reading that first obviously. But if you only want to read this one, that absolutely works as well! Don't worry about not understanding something in this book as you read- everything will be explained as the story proceeds, including pretty much every crucial thing that happened in the first book. 
> 
> See you at the end of the chapter for some more notes!! Hope you enjoy this one xx

Bellamy stares at the girl sitting at the table on the other side of the glass. Her wrists aren’t handcuffed to the interrogation table- a small luxury they could offer her for being one of Ark’s most beloved officers, someone who had never before stepped a toe out of line. It helped that Kane considered her his daughter. But Bellamy wonders if that is all about to change. If within days, her wrists would be clamped and she would be marched to the Arkadia prison.   
  
  
“Let me talk to her,” Bellamy says stiffly, heart having not stopped thundering in his ears since he was informed about the arrest. He had been driving home after a tiring day, looking forward to the weekend. It was Kane himself who had called, and Bellamy had never before heard the older man so frantic and fearful. He had taken a sharp u-turn and returned to the precinct in record time despite never once breaking the speed limit, though his foot on the accelerator twitched to.   
  
  
“I can’t do that, Bellamy,” Kane replies and Bellamy wonders if he is imagining it- the trembling of Kane’s fingers as he flips through the case file. A case file that he wanted desperately to be privy to as well.   
  
  
“ _Please,_ Kane,” Bellamy is ready to beg on his hands and knees. He just wants to _understand_.   
  
  
“I’m sorry,” Kane shakes his head. “The DA’s office has issued strict orders that only those who work outside of the suspect’s team can be involved in this investigation.” Bellamy forces down a shudder at the word. _Suspect._ He wants to reprimand Kane for using the word instead of her name, but he also understands Kane’s need to try and distance himself from the girl across the glass, to treat this like any other case. “Preferably someone who isn’t part of the Ark Police Department at all. I’m not even sure what my own role in all of this will be.”  
  
  
“Surely since you’re now the acting Police Commissioner, you have some say in that?” Bellamy finally turns to his mentor, eyes pleading.  
  
  
“Even if I could veto that decision,” Kane steels himself for the reaction he knows will follow, “I wouldn’t.” Bellamy opens his mouth instantly to protest, eyes alight, but Kane raises his hand, silencing the man. “Bellamy, listen to me. The Police _Commissioner_ has been _murdered_. And you can be damn sure that the mayor and the DA’s office and the prosecution and _everyone_ in between will be looking at this case with a fine-tooth comb. If we involve ourselves with this case and we find evidence to prove that she’s not guilty, our credibility will be attacked. We would be accused of a biased investigation and the evidence could be dismissed. Is that really what you want?”  
  
  
“No, but she’s my _sister_ ,” Bellamy’s composure cracks, his eyes beginning to burn in their sockets. But he had to keep it together, or he would lose any hope of knowing anything about the case. “I can’t just… I can’t do _nothing_ , Kane. Not when I know she’s innocent.”  
  
  
“Do you?” Kane asks after a beat. They turn to look at Octavia through the one-way mirror. She sits at the table she has so often been on the other side of. But it’s not the fact that she’s sitting there that worries Bellamy the most, it’s the impassive look she has in her eyes. She doesn’t sit slouched with fear or straight with confidence; she sits almost casually- hands resting on the table, legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles, eyes staring consistently at one point on the wall. She hasn’t said a thing since she was brought in an hour ago, not even asked for a lawyer. Kane had placed a glass of water down in front of her, but she’s yet to take a sip. If they look closely, they can see the blood on her fingertips. But her hands don’t shake, which is unusual of the anxiety Bellamy knows she has suffered from since she lost the man she loved.   
  
  
“Do you know that she’s innocent?” Bellamy doesn’t answer. He can’t. He doesn’t want to think about what happens if she isn’t. He doesn’t want to believe in a reality where she could be anything less than. “We know what the last few months have been like… You know what she went through… What she became. What Pike did to them.” Bellamy releases a trembling breath. “Is it so farfetched to think that she wanted justice?” Bellamy tries hard to fight the tears that well up in his eyes. His heart breaks for his little sister, who five months ago woke up in a hospital bed to find out that she had lost everything. His heart aches and aches and _aches_ with the knowledge that yes, she had been hurting beyond comprehension. And yes, she could have done this.   
  
  
“Vengeance and justice aren’t the same thing,” Bellamy murmurs.   
  
  
“To her they are,” Kane says. “Bellamy, believe me when I say that there is nothing I want more than to release her.” A tear slips down Bellamy’s cheek and he feels a hand on his arm, steady and strong. “I want to believe that she had enough humanity left within her, enough left to live for, to be innocent of this crime. But her innocence must be proven the right way, the truth must be found.”  
  
  
“What if they put her away without finding the truth?” Bellamy asks, swiping his sleeve across his eyes. “What if whoever’s in charge is still biased- just in the wrong direction? Pike moved the law in his favour multiple times before- what’s stopping him from doing it from his grave? One last act to make us suffer.”  
  
  
Kane wonders what would happen if Bellamy knew just how far Pike’s reach had been, and what would happen when he inevitably found out what Pike did six years ago.   
  
  
“Bellamy, I promise you that I’m going to find someone who will take care of this case as well as any of us would have.”   
  
  
“Who could you possibly trust more than our team to work this case? Don’t forget that this may well be Octavia’s life on the line,” Bellamy says.   
  
  
“I-,” Kane hesitates, wondering whether he was making the right choice, wondering whether it was even a possibility, wondering whether he should share his thoughts with Bellamy of all people. “I have somebody in mind. She’s currently employed with the Promeda Bureau of Investigation and hasn’t been to Ark in recent years, which is why the DA’s office will grant her access to lead the investigation. And more than that, I would trust her with my life, I would trust her with any of your lives. And I know that you would too.”   
  
  
And if it had been any other case at any other time, the person he had in mind would have refused. But now? Now he _knows_ that she will accept. He knows that she will do anything it takes to protect this family, just like she’s always done, even when it wasn’t clear to everyone else. He knows that if he asks her, she won’t hesitate to say yes. She would at long last be able to return to Ark, the home she left unwillingly six years ago. Because she was finally free from Charles Pike.  
  
  
Bellamy tears his eyes away from his sister’s blank stare to look at Kane. “Who?”  
  
  
+++  
  
  
Two hours later, they take the first flight out to Shallow Valley, which is an hour’s flight away from Ark. Meanwhile, Sergeant Niylah Jacombs from the Polis Police Department is sent to interrogate Octavia, though Kane is convinced that she won’t breathe a word. If she wasn’t willing to talk to Kane, she wasn’t going to talk to anyone else.   
  
  
After receiving dismissive responses the first two times, Bellamy had stopped asking Kane questions about where they were going, which Kane is thankful for. It’s not that he doesn’t trust him, it’s that he doesn’t want to give the younger man any kind of false hope. Kane isn’t certain she will be in Shallow Valley, for she could have moved since her last correspondence with him six months ago. But he _hopes_ , because she is the only option Kane has considered to head the investigation. After his convincing pitch prior to their flight, the DA’s office agreed to accept her, a pitch that Kane made to them without Bellamy’s knowledge.  
  
  
As they drive to where he hopes she still lives, Kane finds himself worrying about Bellamy’s reaction, should they find her there. He experienced first hand Bellamy’s heart-break, the hurt that he carried into work everyday for almost a year. He saw it in the redness of his eyes and the stiff set in his shoulders. He felt it in the palpable tension in the room whenever she was mentioned amongst their team. And he missed her steadying and strong presence as they all fell apart in the years after she left.   
  
  
His heart had ached for the blame that was thrown at her for leaving, and he hated that he was the only one who was allowed to know that she never had a choice; his stomach clenches at the thought that she would probably be unwelcome back into their lives. But surely _Bellamy_ would be happy? Surely Bellamy would be able to look past the six years simply because he could finally see her again. Because underneath the anguish of her departure, Kane knew that the man still missed her terribly. Still yearned for the life together that should have been.  
  
  
Bellamy is silent through the twenty minute car journey to her house. Kane wishes he could say something to ease his worries for his sister, but there was nothing that could be said. Not when they didn’t even know if she was innocent, not when there was a very real possibility that she wasn’t.   
  
  
“We’re here,” Kane says, double checking the address on the piece of paper in his wallet before pulling into the driveway. His heart beating wildly with uncertainty and hope, they walk to the front door. He rings the bell and they wait, Bellamy looking around with a furrow in his eyebrow and Kane with anxiety coursing through his blood.   
  
  
When the door finally opens, it is not who Kane expects. A young girl of about twelve stands in the doorway. She’s dressed in pajama bottoms and a thick sweater and has her jet black hair in braids. She looks between the two visitors with confusion and Kane’s shoulders drop. He had the wrong house.   
  
  
And then the girl’s eyes catch on to Bellamy’s face and they begin to widen, and her lips stretch into a soft but wide smile. “Bellamy?” she asks breathlessly, and Kane exhales slowly in relief. Bellamy looks more confused than before, eyebrows rising in question at the young girl. She smiles wider still, reaching out to grasp his arm, before saying something that leaves Bellamy’s breath stuttering.   
  
  
“Clarke knew you’d come.”   
  
  
+++ 

**Author's Note:**

> So yes!! Quite a few readers from the first book asked when this one was going to be posted- so I decided to just write the first chapter as a little teaser for what is to come. It might be a little while until I post the next chapter because I still have a lot of planning to do in order to make it the best version possible. I'm REALLY excited for this story- it's going to be dark and gritty and angsty and everything in between. Like I said earlier, this is a sequel so the premise as to why Clarke left etc. is explained in the first book- but don't worry if you haven't read it, it's going to be properly explored in this book as well, so you won't be missing anything out. You'll just get to view this story from a different perspective, which honestly is pretty exciting too! And yes- this book WILL be slowburn Bellarke, even though there were almost already together in the last book- a lot has happened in six years, and there will be a lot to resolve through this book.
> 
> Let me know what you think of this little teaser ;) See you in the next update! xx


End file.
